Heretofore, one known apparatus for inspecting an antilock brake system (hereinafter referred to as “ABS”) and a front/rear wheel combined brake system (hereinafter referred to as “CBS”) for motorcycles is disclosed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2001-281108.
The disclosed inspecting apparatus has a pair of front wheel support rollers (a first front wheel support roller and a second front wheel support roller) for supporting a front wheel seated thereon, and a pair of rear wheel support rollers (a first rear wheel support roller and a second rear wheel support roller) for supporting a rear wheel seated thereon, the first front wheel support roller and the first rear wheel support roller being coupled together for rotation in synchronism with each other. Each of the rollers has its surface made of a low friction material. The second front wheel support roller and the second rear wheel support roller are associated with respective rotational speed detecting means coupled thereto for detecting respective rotational speeds thereof. The first rear wheel support roller is coupled to a drive motor through a clutch.
For inspecting an ABS on a motorcycle with the inspecting apparatus thus constructed, the front and rear wheels of the test vehicle are placed respectively on the pair of front wheel support rollers and the pair of rear wheel support rollers, and the first rear wheel support roller is rotated by the drive motor. The first and second rear wheel support rollers are synchronously rotated by the rear wheel, and their rotation is transmitted through the first front wheel support roller to the front wheel and the second front wheel support roller. Therefore, all the rollers are synchronously rotated.
When the rotational speeds of the rollers as detected by the rotational speed detecting means reach a predetermined speed, the clutch between the first rear wheel support roller and the drive motor is disengaged, and the operator fully applies the brake. The rollers separated from the drive power from the drive motor by the clutch continuously rotate by inertia, and their rotational speed are gradually lowered by the brake. Since the surface of each of the rollers made of the low friction material, a slippage occurs between the wheels of the motorcycle and the rollers, causing the ABS to operate to apply a pumping brake. The rollers are thereafter stopped by the brake, and the times at which the rollers are stopped are compared with a value determined by an actual measurement to determine whether the ABS performance is acceptable or not. For inspecting the CBS of the motorcycle with the conventional inspecting apparatus, the operator applies one of the brakes (e.g., the front wheel brake) to cause the other brake (e.g., the rear wheel brake) to operate in combination therewith, and the times at which the rollers are stopped are compared with a value determined by an actual measurement to determine whether the CBS performance is acceptable or not, in the same manner as when the ABS is inspected.
According to the ABS inspection process carried out by the conventional inspecting apparatus, the time required to inspect the ABS is relatively long because no judgement results are obtained unless the support rollers are stopped after the operator has applied the brake. If the front wheel ABS and the rear wheel ABS are to be inspected successively, then the support rollers which have been stopped after the inspection of the front wheel ABS is finished need to be rotated up to a rotational speed that is high enough to inspect the rear wheel ABS, resulting in a poor inspection efficiency. The CBS inspection process also takes a relatively long inspection time because stopping times and stopping distances are used for judgement and hence no judgement results are obtained unless the support rollers are stopped after the operator has applied the brakes. Furthermore, the operator is required to be skilled as an activation of the CBS is confirmed based on a bodily feel of the operator, with the result that a high inspection accuracy cannot be achieved.
The conventional inspecting apparatus determines whether the ABS and the CBS are acceptable or not by comparing the times at which the rollers are stopped with a value determined by an actual measurement. If the ABS or the CBS is judged as a failure, then the conventional inspecting apparatus cannot identify whether the ABS or the CBS suffers a control failure or the braking forces are problematic.
Though the surface of each of the rollers made of the low friction material, if the inertial rotation of the rollers is not sufficiently fast when the operator apply the brakes, then a slippage between the wheels and the rollers that is in conformity with actual running conditions on the road cannot reliably be produced.
Generally, motorcycles have a speedometer for measuring the speed thereof while they are running. The inspecting apparatus keeps a motorcycle under test running on the rollers. Therefore, the inspecting apparatus is also desired to inspect efficiently the speedometer of the motorcycle under test.
In view of the above drawbacks, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for and a method of inspecting a motorcycle accurately and efficiently by easily locating a defective part and greatly reducing a period of time required to inspect each inspection item of the motorcycle.